Day 27. After breakfast we drive around Carnarvon town centre and walk on the palm lined esplanade and old rail jetty to say our farewells. We have really enjoyed our few days here but now we must head further south on the North West Coastal Highway towards Denham. Down the highway we detour to Gladstone scenic lookout to view the blue sandy Shark Bay in the distance. Later we turn off onto the Shark Bay World Heritage Drive and pass over numerous large scrubby sand hills with the ocean on both sides. We detour into The old Hamelin Pool Station and post office circa 1880s for lunch on the shady tea rooms verandah. Then we stroll out on the ocean boardwalk to experience the ancient stromatolites, one of only two places on earth where these ancient microrganisms appear as living large structures. They first appeared in the super saline Hamelin Pool 3,000 years ago and are the oldest known life form with a lineage of 3.5 billion years. Next we walk on the ancient Shell Beach made up of millions of tiny white Hamelin Cockles 10 metres deep and 60km long. Further along the bitumen we detour onto several sandy tracks to view the rugged bluffs, shallow blue ocean, sandy beaches and expansive sea grasses of Shark Bay. In the distance we can see Dirk Hartog Island, WAs longest Island, named after the Dutch mariner who landed on the island in 1616 and left his inscribed pewter plate. Finally we arrive late afternoon into small fishing village of Denham, very pretty but so remote. We stroll out onto the jetties admiring the moored boats and chat to the squid fishers. Dinner tonight at ‘The Old Pub’ or Shark Bay Hotel. Distance today 400 km, warm 27 degrees.